Member Feature
Gift Ngwenya - 8th Realm Auctioning
While in high school in Zimbabwe, Gift Ngwenya of 8th Realm Auctioning was introduced to Peter Lovemore by his daughter – Gift’s French teacher- who took him under his wing and taught him the world of Auctioneering.
Gift started his career in the Auction Industry as a ticket marker for mainly household auctions. “One day, the head Auctioneer was running late for an auction and asked me to step in- I had no training, but there I was, standing at the podium,” Gift recalls this as the moment he broke the ice into Auctioneering. The head Auctioneer was so impressed that he allowed Gift to do the entire auction.
After that, Peter Lovemore helped Gift to train and study to be an Auctioneer, getting him involved in the Tobacco auction realm. “This was hectic, we had seconds to auction off 4500 bales of tobacco a day. This all had to be done between 07:00 and noon as the tobacco could only be exposed to natural light.”
However, as the company Gift worked for was a family-run business, he had progressed as far as he could within the company, and it was time to spread his wings. Gift returned to South Africa. This did come with its challenges as no one was really hiring black Auctioneers. “Most of the jobs black Auctioneers could get was putting pointer signs down for auctions,” Gift said. Peter Lovemore called a friend and asked him to give Gift a chance to show him what he can do – to showcase his ‘gift’.
Gift met with Rael Levitt who was at an airport at the time, preparing to fly overseas. They met at Wimpy and Rael asked Gift to auction off a pen to him. He was blown away by Gift’s skill and offered him a job. Thereafter Gift worked for Property Alliance for 10 years, where he was exposed to many different opportunities and aspects of the Auction Industry. Gift very quickly become a black, up-and-coming protégé. After Property Alliance, Gift ran Auction Exchange for 4 years.
He then moved on to Blue Spec Group who headhunted him to start a new business with them. So began Auction Nation. Auction Nation became the largest and most successful Salvage house in South Africa, with them auctioning off over 3000 salvage vehicles per year. Once Gift felt that the company was a well-oiled machine, he felt he was wasting his passion and skills on a desk-job and wanted to get back out into the heart of Auctioneering. With the onslaught of Covid-19 and many auctions moving over to the online sphere, Gift missed the art of standing at the podium, being in the centre of it all. Thus began 8th Realm Auctioning.
What makes an Auctioneer a great Auctioneer according to Gift? “Building up your charisma and practicing your chants every day. Finding your own space and learning who you are and how this can help you. A good Auctioneer is someone who can be versatile and adapt to what it is that is being auctioned off,” he said.
His favourite part about being an Auctioneer? The passion on the podium, the energy, the people, the adrenaline. “Auctions bring about a sense of urgency as well as finality. There’s no back and forth. There is a finality in being able to say that you’re on the market. Bidding wars show what the value of a product or item is and essentially that is what the market should accept.” Gift also stated that the Auction Industry has evolved from just being cowboys auctioning off some cattle – Auctioneers are now Asset Disposal Agents involved in every sphere of auctioneering. Another point he made is that an Auctioneer has an added advantage – your bread is buttered on both sides. “When the economy is down and people are struggling, many people are interested in second-hand items. When the economy is booming, people have more money to spend at auctions,” he said.
Some of the challenges Gift and his company have faced is the availability and assistance in terms of finance and capital. Much of 8th Realm’s capital has come from in-house resources. Despite this, 8th Realm has still been able to set and position themselves as a proper auction house, well established and attracting the right buyers. “The support given to young, black owned auction houses is not good enough in South Africa. Liquidators, Business Practitioners and Attorneys don’t support us. We are limited to selling household items and products, and this isn’t always where the money lies. Real estate generally goes to big white companies. It’s not easy for us – we have to piggyback off of the bigger companies if we want to be successful,” Gift added.
Having been in the Industry for 28 years, Gift still fondly thinks back to Peter Lovemore as his mentor, as well as Rael Levitt and Andrew Miller. “I was blessed to have someone give me a chance, everything I have is God-sent, so my personal goal is to make sure that I give back.” Over the years Gift has raised an excess of about R1bn for various charities. He has been involved in the FNB and Nedbank Wine Makers Guild, as well as the Francois Pienaar Make A Difference foundation and Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation, to name but a few.
“I have been blessed to bless, and I want to instil into young black high schoolers that Auctioneering is a viable field and career option. This should be included in career days and expos at schools. Auctioneering is no longer taboo or limited to a certain race or any one demographic- it is open to all,” Gift stated.
Having had experience in all spheres of the Industry, Gift says his forte is the vehicle space. This comes from having been involved and so successful in the salvage vehicles area. However, operating on a national scale, 8th Realm has been involved in many horse and charity auctions, just to name some. They have branches in Durban, Cape Town and a Head Office in Joburg. Predominantly focusing on movable assets, the end goal for 8th Realm is to be a one stop shop for every kind of auction and item you can think of.
“Our biggest accomplishment is simply being able to play in the space with other big auction-houses, even though we are a smaller and younger company – this is one of the reasons I joined SAIA. 8th Realm has been able to remain relevant, to be there and be recognised. That is how we sustain ourselves,” Gift said in closing.
We are so proud to have Gift as a member of SAIA, and also one of our Board Members. We salute the good work he is doing and look forward to seeing 8th Realm grow from strength to strength.
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